


The Cost of Thneeds

by anawritestuff



Category: The Lorax (2012)
Genre: But he is one in the movie, But just wait for it..., F/M, Female Reader, Spoiler its a slow build up to a relationship, Yeah this is gonna be a thing now, half trying half not, only god can judge, so no huge difference..., sorry if i misspell anything I'm coming up with this on the spot, the once-ler is kind of a dick, you wont be dissapointed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-21 04:56:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13733616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anawritestuff/pseuds/anawritestuff
Summary: What will happen when you; a environmentalist finds out how Thneeds are really being made





	1. Chapter 1

You walked through a parking lot, ready to head home from an hour of grocery shopping. 

Usually, every monday you'd go out and get groceries for the entire week, it was your routine. You had just about finished everything on your to get in town list, with your reusable bags in hand, ready to head home when a loud honking rv stopped you in your tracks. You whipped your head around to look towards the noise.

A large yellow and orange camping van sped by it's tires coming to a screeching halt. You clenched your teeth and held your ears, the bags of groceries swinging around on your arms. Glaring at the now stopped van, you lowered your arms from your ears. 

Climbing out of the van was a tall lankey man wearing a pointed bright green fitted suit, thin black shoes, large top hat stumbling forward onto his feet. He regained his footing and growled and turning back around. He gave an ugly frown and adjusting his coat.

"You need to learn how to drive better." The green suited man snarled in a low tone at the driver. The driver walked out of the van, his hands up as if saying please have mercy.

"Sorry son." The man gave a nervous chuckle, quickly scurrying away from him.

The son gave a pout and rolled his eyes turning back around. You couldn't help but notice how prissy this man looked. He pointed out directions for; who you presumed to be his family with very long expressive fingers and hand moments all while wearing silk gloves. The more you stared the more you came to the conclusion he clearly didn't belong here. 

Opening the back door of your car, you carefully placed the grocery bags on the seat and the floor, your eyes still glued to the man and his business. You shut the door with your behind and watched the man begin to present himself in front of a large cart. Laid out on the cart were colorful coarse-looking scarves, or at least that's what they looked like to you. 

"Thneeds here! Get your thneeds!! Made eco-friendly just for you!!" The middle aged man shouted with a very television sounding voice. The green suited man behind him sat in a lawn chair, his feet crossed up on the table.

Your eyebrows lifted as you listened to him speak. Thneeds? Is that what they're called? Is that even a word? They're just scarves.

Suddenly a large group of people rushed towards the van, bundles of crushed money in their hands. A mother and child bumped your shoulder, you groaned and backed up closer to your car. You kept watching the hordes of people practically throw their money at the family to get the thneeds, some of them even did literally.

Widening your eyes, you locked your car and stuffed the keys in your purse. You crossed your arms and took a few steps forward. You were intrigued with the way these people acted, for scarves, you couldn't believe it. What was so great about those raggedy things? You had to know.

Slowly walking over to the crowd, you pushed through the people, without caring your their feelings. A frown slowly began to form on your face the more you stared at the green suited business man. 

You stepped in line, front and center, now your eyes had traveled down, staring at the very carefully placed row of thneeds. For a second you examined them, they looked just as unappealing close up as they did far away. But from what you've heard, people speak highly of the thneeds, saying they were "softer than silk, and smelled like butterfly milk". 

"Money," the green suited man said waving his hand open and closed for you. 

"I'm sorry?" You asked, now looking up at him. 

The Once-ler pulled back his very long legs, letting his heels slam against the ground. You noticed that with every moment he made, his light hair moved along with him. 

"You're buying a thneed right? The money?" He asked looking down at you. The sunglasses he wore on his face lowered half way, you could barley make out that he had deep blue eyes.

"Oh, oh no. I'm not buying. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about." You say returning your eyes back to the thneeds. Before you could reach out to touch one, the man tightly gripped your wrist, causing you to groan and glare at him again, this time a bit less friendly.

"I'm sorry but you can't touch, unless you buy." He spoke in a rougher sounding voice, giving you a serious face. Your eyes scanned him for a second, you sighed and gave a pout. 

"Fine," You asked pulling your hand away from him, rubbing your wrist. "I'll buy one." He sat back down giving a large grin and crossed his arms. "How much?"

"Oh well, I'm selling them for seven dollars each!" He declared, gently dusting off the small flower in his front pocket.

"Seven dollars!" You shouted in disbelief. "How?" You said barley even able to speak.

"Only the best of my Oncey!" An older woman with tall blonde hair said rubbing the thin man's shoulder, in a somewhat rehearsed looking hug. The Once-ler growled as a response, and fixed his uneven top hat. 

You smiled at how silly she acted with the business man.

"Oncey?" You asked crossing your arms, a small smirk on your face. You've never heard of a buisness man named oncey before. That's almost as weird as anything being called a thneed.

"The Once-ler." He sternly corrected both you and the woman who you guessed could be his mother. 

"That's not any better." You said slightly lifting your fingers to motion to him. You kept on smiling at the man as his face scrunched up in annoyance.

"So are you going to buy one or not?" The Once-ler asked you clearly loosing his patience.

"Uhh, yeah." You said lowering your smile, pulling the money out of your purse. 

You gave the Once-ler a ten, he took the money and grabbed your change. Quickly he grabbed something and scribbled over it with a pen. Walking around the stand the Once-ler took large powerful steps. You followed him out of the crowed and to the side. 

He began strutting over to you. You took a few frightened steps back. He then stopped in front of you, you blinked looking up and down at him, it was then that you realized just how tall he was. The top of your head barley reached his chin! His height and thin body caught you off guard for a minute. 

Long fuzzy pink strips fell onto your shoulders. You blinked three times in confusion as you stared at the thneed. You heard a chuckle slip out of his mouth, forcing you to stare back up at him.

He bent down close enough for his shadow to completely engulf your body.

"You tell your friends now, you hear?" He whispered into your ear, his warm breath hitting your skin. You shuddered and felt a heat rush to your cheeks.

The cold silk of his glove gently touched your hand. You could feel money, and something else. A piece of paper? You have a heavy sigh and looked up to him, batting your eyelashes.

The Once-ler stared you straight in the face, he wore a large smile with slightly rosy cheeks. He shook your hand and snickered again, probably from the awestruck gaze you've been giving him. He swiftly turning around to head back to his stand. You shoved the money in your purse. 

Turning the other way you looked down to the thneed. Reaching up to your shoulders to touch it, your eyes widened. They were right, it was softer than silk. Your fingers slowly brushed through the tuffs of the thneed that wildly poked out. Your eyebrows furrowed.

"What is this stuff made of?" You quietly asked yourself.

"Why it's only made from the best feeling trees in the world!" A very country sounding accent blurted grabbing your shoulder. You groaned at how harshly he wrapped his arm around your neck. 

"Trees?" You asked, slightly pouting your lips. "What kind of trees?"

"Truffula's! Uhh, I think." Another man said pushing you out of the strangers arms. 

A groan slipped from your mouth as you gained your footing again. The two men began to wrestle behind you, but you didn't bother with them. You began to make your way back to your car. Thinking of the thneeds, you asked yourself "How exactly are these things being made?"

Unlocking your car, and stepping in, you headed for home. The whole drive their you couldn't take your mind off of the business man you met earlier, the Once-ler. Their was something about him you didn't like. Suspicion began to arise in you at the thought of how many people were buying his product.

Arriving to your home, you grabbed all of the groceries from the backseat of your car, and slammed the door shut using your body. 

Just before you could make your way inside, the mail man began to stroll up to you.

"Hey there (Y/N)!" The mail man said waving his hand at you. You began to smile at him before you looked down at his bag, it was made out of the same material the thneeds were made out of, but orange. You blinked for a moment before speaking.

"What is that?" You asked pointing to the bag.

"Oh this? Just a little something I picked up while I was off yesterday! Do you like it?" He asked giving you a grin. "I see you've got one yourself, and a pink one too! It looks really nice on you, I mean that!" He spoke in a very chipper voice. 

It was then that you began to realize, these were more than just some scarves. Everyone was using them, for various things. The way they were shaped, they could probably be used for anything. 

How many more were going to be sold? We're they all eco-friendly as said by the middle aged man. It wasn't a lot of times things that were eco-friendly were ever popular. The Once-ler's family didn't look like the type to care about the environment, which made you wonder if they were lying or not. Who knows, businesses lie all the time.

Beginning to walk up to the door of your home, the mail man called out to you.

"Ohh, uhh (Y/N)!" He shouted getting you to turn around. "Here's your mail, and the paper." The mail man said sliding them under your armpit.

"Right, thanks." You spoke slowly, the thought of the thneeds still on your mind. You took a few more steps and unlocked your front door. Stepping into the house, you placed your bags on the floor and reached into your purse.

Putting the loose money back, you gripped the small piece of paper tightly in your fist. Unclentching your closed fingers, you saw a wrinkly and folded business card. On the front it read "The Once-ler" with a phone number printed underneath it. 

Turning over the card, their was a message writen on it. "Hope you like your thneed! By the way, you look really nice in pink!" With a small smiley face under the note.


	2. Chapter 2

When you saw the note, you chuckled. That Once-ler was something else.

You set the newspaper down onto the table, when something caught your eye. Right there, on the front page, it was him. Quickly, you unfolded the paper and looked at the article that was writen about him.

The front title read, "Twenty three year old common man called The Once-ler made millionare with his revolutionary thneed!"

"Revolutionary huh," You said lowering the paper. Skimming over the rest of the page, you saw nothing of how the thneeds were really being made. You couldn't believe no one has ever thought to ask before, they must all be blinded by how trendy these ugly things are. 

You pulled the thneed off of your neck and tossed it onto the counter across from you. Glaring at the ratty thing, all you could think of was how that used to be a tree. Though you've never heard of truffula trees before, you wanted to do some investigating. 

Grabbing the phone from your purse, you dialed the number on the front of the business card the Once-ler gave you.

The phone rang for nearly five seconds before anyone answered. 

"You've reached the office of Mr. Once-ler, how may I help you?" The voice of a country woman spoke, which you soon remembered to be his mother. 

"Yes, uh, I'm with the city newsletter, and I thought it would be really nice to get an interview with the Once-ler himself. I hear he's getting pretty famous and I wanted to get the first sit down with him before anyone else could."

"Oh that would be just swell! What time would you be coming over?" She asked in a light voice.

"How does now sound? I'm sorry if that's too early-"

"No, that sounds perfect! I'll tell Mr. Once-ler you're coming over. Thank you so much." She said, her accent shinning through again. 

"Oh alright, thank you!" You replied in a sweet sounding voice, much higher than your natural voice. You ended the call and marched over to the thneed shoving it, and your phone into your purse.

Rushing through the hallway, you stopped at yoopen the ur closet. You remembered having a sleek silk red dress in there somewhere. You pushed the closet door and dug through lots of old clothes hung on hangers. Pulling out the spaghetti strap dress, you also brought out a grey plaid blazer, short thin white gloves, and black high heels.

Completely stripping, you replaced your normal clothes with the fancy ones. After dressing up, you looked at yourself in the mirror on the closet door. You smiled at yourself and pushed your hair behind your ear, just then you had the idea of pulling your thick hair behind you into a ponytail. 

You walked over to the dresser in the living room and picked up a pair of pearl earrings. Their couldn't be a better time to wear these, you thought. Putting the earrings on, you grabbed the briefcase you've been using for college and dumped the contents out onto the couch. 

Quickly, you picked up the thneed and put it in the briefcase. For some reason, you felt you were in a rush, it could have been because you said to do the interview now, or was it something else? You shook your head clearing your mind, grabbed your keys from the kitchen bar, and carefully headed out the door. 

One of your male neighbors turned his head while watering his lawn, giving a loud whistle at you. You opened you front door and stepped in. Turning your gaze, you winked it him and waved, pulling your car out of the driveway.

So this look is working, good, you thought.

The paper mentioned something about the Once-ler living in a thneed factory just outside of town. So that's where you were headed. 

After leaving town, you began to see thousands of these truffula trees. Your eyes widened in amazement. Continuing to drive, you looked at how many trees their were, you could barley even count them. They were such beautiful colors; pink, red, orange, yellow, their trunks were a faded striped color. You were speechless, you've never seen trees so colourful in your life.

Reaching the Once-ler's residence, you heard a terrible banging noise coming from the right side of the building. You clenched your teeth and stopped your car, turning it off. You grabbed your suitcase and shut the door of your car. 

A small brown bear rushed over to you and grabbed your leg. You yelped and stared down at the bear, waiting for it to start clawing you. When the bear waved it's hands up higher, and pulled at your red dress, you began to see that their was nothing to be afraid of. 

You smiled, a giggle escaping your lips.

"You're so cute." You said leaning down and picking up the bear. The bear looked at you a second with a smile before covering his ears, giving you a strained look. You furrowed your eyebrows. "It's the noise isn't it? You hate that noise too?" You asked the small bear. 

He nodded his head in response and pointed to the opposite direction. You turned around to see a large contraption spinning thirty or so axes around, chopping down multiple trees at once. Your jaw dropped as you saw what the thneeds and the Once-ler were doing to the forest.

Putting the bear back on his feet, you keeled down to speak to him.

"Don't you worry baby bear, this will be over soon." You said giving him a smile of reassurance. He gave a hopeful smile back and nuzzled into your bent knee. You giggled and pet his head. 

Standing up again, you turned back around to face the building, you noticed the front of the small factory was a small house. That must be why their is so much construction going on, to expand the factory. 

Walking up to the steps of the small house, you took a moment to compose yourself. This is it, you're going to face him and you're going to be serious. Letting out a sigh, you gave three gentle knocks to the door. 

The door swung open, the same tall haired blonde lady appeared in front of you. She squealed, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Ohh Oncey! She's here! A real live city newsletter gal is here to interview my successful son!" She spoke holding her overly blushed cheeks. You giggled in response. She was very crazy, you thought. "Here, this way mam, I'll take you straight to him!" She said grabbing my wrist and pulling me with her.

"Oh, okay!" You responded shocked with how touchy she was. 

The mother led you down a short hallway to a small room. You stared at the door, it looked much different than the rest of the house, like it was barley built. The woman opened the door and pushed you inside, causing you to stumble forward, holding onto the desk in front of you. 

"Good luck Oncey!" She said smiling and waving. 

"It's Once-ler mom, we talked about this, remember." He said giving her a awkward smile. You could only guess he was a second away from going off on her. You turned your head around to watch the mothers response.

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. Mr. Onceler." She said giving a giggle, shutting the door behind her. 

"Yeah, yeah." The Once-ler grumbled from behind you, you turned your head to look at him. His eyes widened upon seeing you, the corners of his lips slowly dropped. He gulped hard as you began to walk over to his desk. "How can I help you?"

You slightly pouted your lips and tossed your briefcase onto the desk. Reaching behind you, you pulled your hair tie out of your hair, letting your long locks lay on your shoulders.

The Once-ler rolled his chair back as you began to step closer to him again. He gave a restless sigh and clutched his knees. Now leaning over him this time, you pressed your hand onto the wall behind him and gave him a deadly glare.

"You can help me by telling me just what the hell you think you're doing." You said in the most intimidating way you could.

The Once-ler's stunned look gradually lowered, giving you a very pouty sneer. He reached up for your hand, taking it in his, his knee now brushed against your inner thigh. You clenched your teeth and backed away hoping he'd let go of you

"I'm making my dreams a reality," He spoke standing up, still holding onto your hand. "What does it look like I'm doing?" 

You aggressively pulled your hand away from him. Something inside of you snapped, you could feel a burning all over you, your face flushing and your head spinning. You breathed hard, trying to think of just what to say, to make him feel the way you felt.

"It looks like you're hurting the environment to me, by destroying the trees for these ugly thneeds." You said opening your briefcase up for him. "Which I'd like a refund on by the way." 

"Ugly?" The Once-ler chuckled. "If they're so ugly, why are they selling so well?" 

"One; because people are stupid, and they like to buy the stupidest trendiest thing, which right now is your thneed, and two; is because people can't see the harm you're doing to the forest and the animals in it." You said fiercely pointing a finger near the front door.

"Listen sweetie," The Once-ler rolled his chair back up to his desk and fixed his coat. "I know you missed me and-"

"What," You scoffed. "I did not miss you."

"Well it hasn't even been an hour and you're already back," He crossed his arms, leaning his elbows on the desk. A cute smile spread across his face. "So...I'd like to think that somewhere deep down you actually just want to see me again, because you l-"

"You? Never in my life." You cut him off, slamming both of your hands on the table. Your face now inches away from his. Putting out your hand, you spoke. "Now, my refund?"

The Once-ler laughed, leaning back in his chair, his arms still crossed. He stared at you a moment, that stupid smile still on his face. His thin finger brushed across his bottom lip. He then unfolded his arms and pressed his fingers against the bottom of his desk. You widened you eyes and backed away from the desk.

Behind you, the door swung open and slammed against the wall. You jumped back, leaning onto the desk behind you. The twins you saw from earlier ran in one at a time.

"Don't hurt her, I just want her out of here." The Once-ler said standing up from the rolling chair.

The harsh hands of both the twins squeezed onto your arms. You groaned in pain as they hauled you out of the office room. They pulled you through the hallway and out the front door. Both twins let you go, pushing you onto the ground in front of your car. You growled in pain, and held your now bruised arm.

"This isn't the last you'll see me, Once-ler." You spat in a vicious tone. 

"Oh I hope not sweetie," The Once-ler said crossing his arms, leaning against the door frame. "You're too cute to only see one time." He said then opening the door up behind him and slamming it shut.

Your cheeks began to heat up, not only in anger but in embarrassment as well. You gave an ugly growl and picked yourself up from the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

You frowned, giving one last huff before making your way over to your car. 

Both your hands gently rubbing where the twins had squeezed you at. If his father was his driver, and his mother was his secretary, who were the twins...his brothers, you thought. If they were they were unbelievably different from each other.

Shaking your head, you walked up to your car and opened the door. With a defeated sigh, you sat down in the driver's seat a second, leaning over the steering wheel. Beside you, you heard something shuffle around the seat. You whipped your head around to see a large orange bean with a bright yellow mustache and eyebrows sitting in the passengers seat.

After letting out a scream, the thing screamed along with you, he quickly socked you in your nose. You groaned and held your nose staring at the creature.

"What, what are you?" You stuttered, barley even able to speak. 

"I'm the lorax, I speak for the trees!" He spoke giving a dignified grin, his hands on his hips.

"Yes but, what exactly are you?" You asked again, taking your hand off of your nose.

"Uhhh yeah," the Lorax said in an unsure sounding voice. "You and beanpole got serious beef right?" He asked you, turning his body to fully face you, you copied the way he sat.

"If you're asking that the Once-ler and I are fighting the answer is yes. Have you seen what his factory is doing to the forest?"

"Of course I have, I live here, and so do my friends," He said opening his hand to show you the backseat. You turned your head to see five of the bears, two fish, and a baby duck. "And we're all very tired of beanpole's treatment of the forest. It is continuously going down hill."

"Beanpole?" You asked, trying to understand what he was saying. Was that his nickname for Once-ler, yikes! In no form does this guy have a good name. "Yeah, I don't like what he's doing either, and I plan to put an end to both him and his thneed business for good."

"Really? That's great!" The lorax said clapping his hands together. "We could use all the help we can get around here." He said placing his hand on your leg. 

You gave an uncomfortable grin in response and turned back to your steering wheel.

"I really should get going." You spoke in a voice that was obviously saying please leave to them. One of the bears behind you put his hand on your shoulder, forcing you to turn and look at him. He gave the largest, cutest grin you ever saw. "Uhh, you're all very cute, but I can't take you home with me." 

"At least for one night? Pipsqueak here is now without a home because beanpole has decided to expand his house." You scrunched your nose, the vexing feeling from earlier coming up again.

"Oh is that so?" You asked, unable to say anything else that was on your mind. How can the Once-ler not see he was harming all these animals, is he that ignorant? "Alright, you can stay for a night while I work on a plan to stop the Once-ler."

"Aww, thank you so much uhh," He stopped waiting for an answer.

"(Y/N)." You said giving him a small smile.

"Oh really? Huh, well, (Y/N) it's nice to meet you." The Lorax said patting his fuzzy orange hand against yours. 

"It's nice to meet you too." You said giving him a quick smile, then turning your eyes back onto the road, you turned on your car, and began to drive back home.

The entire drive home was you speaking to the Lorax about the Once-ler. He told you how he was summoned, how he was once friends with the forest animals, and how annoying the Once-ler was, while you made some of the same points, you kept out his constant terrible style of flirting. However cute you found him, that didn't make up for his ugly personality.

Finally arriving home, you parked in front of your driveway and stepped out of your car, still speaking to the Lorax, who you come to realize was very good company.

"So what are you, a lawyer?" He asked waving his hands at you. "What's with the getup?"

"Oh no. I'm not a lawyer, I was pretending to be a news reporter so I could speak to the Once-ler face to face. I'm actually just a college student." You spoke making sure all the animals got out of your car okay before you locked it.

"And how does a college student like yourself plan on stopping a man as rich as beanpole is?" The lorax said unimpressed.

"I've actually been at this for a while now," You spoke sticking your key into the keyhole of your front door. "You know I once stopped a teenager from destroying a beavers dame." 

"Dame?" The lorax asked putting his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, the wrote about me in the paper for saving an entire colony of beavers," You replied opening the door up, letting all the animals in. "That's the word for a group of beavers."

"Yeah I know." Lorax said already making his way over to the fridge. 

You rolled your eyes, guessing that's the only thing he come over for. Leaning over, you unstrapped your high heels and picked them up to toss them into the closet. You pulled off your grey blazer and did the same with it.

"Are we gonna have dinner, or..." the Lorax spoke loudly from across the hall. 

You chuckled and reached for your normal clothes on the floor, beginning to change in the hallway.

"Uhh, ohh, I don't really know how to make anything but I can fix us up a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." You said letting the red dress slide down your body and on the floor. Quickly you put on your normal clothes, plain high waisted blue jean pants, with a small red turtle neck crop top. 

Putting on a black and white patterned shawl, you joined the others, walking over to your living room, which was actually just your bedroom from how small the apartment space was.

"I've never eaten peanut butter or jelly, so yeah let's do it." The lorax said waddling over to the living room and jumping on the couch.

"Great." You said looking at your house guests with a warm grin.

The rest of the night was spent eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, playing boardgames, and prank calling the Once-ler's secretary for hours until everyone eventually fell asleep, except you. You used the remaining hours of the night to type up page after page of letters that explained in great detail what the Once-ler was doing in the forest.

The next morning arrived, you were awake before anyone else. Your brown one inch boots clashed against the ground, causing everyone to wake up from the loudness of your pacing.

"Hey kid, what are you doing?" The Lorax asked rubbing his eyes of sleep.

"Oh your awake," You said pulling the papers away from your face, to reveal tired red eyes and bags. The Lorax gave a noise of disgust while the bears, fish and duck all yelled in fear and his behind the couch. "What?" You said throwing your arms out widely. 

"What were you doing all last night?" The Lorax asked in a lighter conserned voice.

"I was writing about all the bad things the Once-ler has done. I was waiting for you to wake up, come on, I think he's just about to sell his thneeds!" You said grabbing all the papers off the floor and desk. You snatched up your keys and began rushing out the door. 

The lorax and the animals tried their best to follow after you. Pipsqueak reached up for you.

"Come on baby bear." You said quickly picking him up, opening the door, and buckling up in the passengers seat.

Behind you, the Lorax and the rest of the animals sat in the backseat, slamming the car doors shut.

"You sure this is gonna work, kid?" The lorax asked giving you an unclear stare. 

"Yeah." You said putting your keys in the car, then turning it on. "It has to." You said facing forward again. You pulled out of the drive way and this time, made your way back to in front of the grocery store and mini mall. Eventhough you found what he did repulsive, you could see he was clearly smart, with excellent marketing skill.

After seeing a crowd of people standing around buying the thneeds, you parked your car and quickly bolted out. You began pushing though the crowds with your papers in your hand.

The Once-ler turned towards you and smirked. 

"Back already?" The Once-ler smirked and crossed his arms. His gloved finger pressing against his lip. "What's the deal with the bags under your eyes? Couldn't help but think of me all night long?" He said picking up another thneed, getting the money from the buyer and pushing the wad of cash in his pocket.

"I'm here to end this thneed craze." You said now at the front of stage built in the parking lot. 

You stepped up onto the stage, the twins from before rushing towards you. You clenched your fists preparing yourself to be brought to the ground. A snap caused them to stop, you looked up to see the Once-ler giving you a smile.

He happily watlzed over to you, his boots clicking against the ground. Putting out his hand, you glared at him up and down. 

"Let me see them." The Once-ler spoke in a deeper sounding voice. You raised your eyebrows, not quite sure what is was, but for whatever reason you extended your arm out, handing him the papers.

The Once-ler cartoonishly took the papers, crossed one of his legs behind the other and began to read them. You watched his eyes speed across page after page, the crowds of people proceeding to buy the thneeds from both his parents, their roaring screams filled your ears. 

The anticipation was killing you. You took a few steps forward, reaching out for your papers. The Once-ler put a hand out and began to walk away. You continued to stare at him, his playful look slowly slipping away. You could see you've clearly struck a chord with him. He turned away, still reading.

Crossing your arms, you took a small step forwards. 

The Once-ler spun around on the heel of his boot to stare you down.

"You're an excellent writer." He said giving you his iconic smile. You narrowed your eyebrows, everytime he made that stupid face you wanted to punch him. "I hope you made copies." He snapping his finger, then ripping them down the middle. 

"What!" You yelled throwing yourself towards him, only to be held back by the twins. You growled and tried to break their rough hold. "No..." You said in a weakened voice. "I'll write them again!" You exclaimed thrashing back and forth, the two men on both of your sides tightened their grip. 

"Good," the Once-ler said making his way over to you, his boots clapping against the ground like always. He smirked and pushed his his hand against your head. "This should be fun."

A groan slipped from your mouth, you watched the Once-ler walk away from you, continuing to sell his thneeds. You growled and glared at him, a burning hatred in your chest. This was only the beginning, you thought.


	4. Chapter 4

After making a few more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for your new friends, you sent them home. You decided it was time to take a different approach to this, a much more active one.

Before you began working on plan b, the remainder of your night was spent retyping the entirety of what you've seen the Once-ler do to the forest and its animals. You sat at your desk, thinking of the Lorax, baby bear and the rest of your new friends. You twirled your small pencil in your hands, wondering what you could do to save them.

You tossed the pencil in the air, you clenched your teeth, waiting for it to fall down. Looking up you noticed the pencil had pierced the ceiling. Giving a tired growl you picked up your books, realizing it had already been time to leave for class. 

"Class.." Your whispered to yourself, your eyes widened, thinking of a brilliant idea. You chuckled and sprung up from your chair. Picking up your purse and keys you ran out of the door, heading for your car. 

Pulling out your cellphone, you called up one of your college friends. While the phone rang you took off in your car, headed for the college campus. Your hands tighrly held the steering wheel and your phone pressed between your shoulder and ear, eager to let your idea out there. You were sure this one would work. 

She finally picked up.

"Hey Janice! I need your help!" You said with urgency.

"Yeah, what is it?" She replied.

"Just meet me near the main door, it's important!" You said hanging up the phone and tossing it in the passengers seat. 

Speeding into the parking lot and parking in your spot, you stopped the car. Grabbing your bag and phone you rushed out of the door, sliding against the bottoms of your boots you stopped. You pointed your keys at your car, making sure it beeped, then spun around and began running towards the entrance of the college.

"H-hey! (Y/N)!" Janice shouted, waving to get your attention. 

You smiled giving a breathy chuckle and picked up speed. Giving her a very weak wave you stopped in front of her five feet away. You crouched over your knees trying to regain your breath.

"(Y/N), what is going on?" Janice said holding onto your arm, guiding you to a nearby bench. You sat down, beginning to breath slower and more normally. "Are you okay?" She asked gently rubbing your shoulder.

"I'm fine, but I think the city is in trouble." Your eyes slowly drifted downwards to see her wearing a thneed skirt. You glared at it for a moment, you couldn't tell if you were seeing correctly or not. "Uhh, nevermind."

"What?" She spoke exasperated. "You made me wait out here for you while I have finale to do in home room?! Ugh grow up!" She growled stomping away. Your eyes followed her short tempered steps.

How could she have wanted to get one of those nasty things, you thought. Letting out a deep breath you held your head in your hand, thinking to yourself. What else could you do? The only plan you had couldn't be done alone, you needed more people on your side. 

"Hey, uhh your sitting on my extra credit." A gentle voice said beside you. 

"Huh?" You lifted your head quickly scooted over to see a slightly wrinkled paper written about environmental activism. The woman picked it up and began straightening it out. Your eyes widened and looked up to see a dark skinned woman with her hair in a braid. "Of course!"

"Umm, thanks." The woman said giving you an ugly stare.

"No. No, uhh I'm sorry. Uhh, I need your help." You said directly looking at the woman, a tone of importance in your voice. "Actually," you said standing up onto the bench, looking out at the class of activists sitting outside doing their work. "I need all of your help," you shouted louder, making them all turn their heads up to look at you. 

"With what?" The girl beside you asked.

"You see, the thneeds you've been buying, they're not all that great, in fact the way they're being made," You groaned, feeling the hot burning anger inside again. "It would make you tremble with rage."

"What are you talking about? These thneeds are awesome!" One of the students in the activist class shouted. Another agreed with them.

"They are not! The Once-ler is cutting down truffula trees to make them! It's causing the animals in the forest physical harm, and if he gets away with this any longer I think they'll either be sick or dead." You declared looking out to more students, not just the ones who you were trying to sway. 

"You!" You said leaping down from the bench to a student wearing a thneed backpack. "What compells you to buy a thneed or thneeds?" You asked gently touching the straps with the tip of your fingers.

"Uhh I don't know." He answered in a mousy voice.

"That's right! You don't know! The Once-ler is making you think you need a thneed! He has tricked you into believing his product can do a thousand things. Wake up people! The more thneeds you buy, the less trees their will be...and the less animals too."

"What sort of evidence do you have against the Once-ler?" A man asked walking up the steps to meet you, you noticed it was a college professor. You didn't even know how to respond. How could he be that stupid was all you could think of.

"What?" You asked, your eyes narrowing at him, he gave you the same look.

"Where is your proof? Hard evidence." He said again, a deep raspy growl in his voice. You gave him a drown as he stomped up the steps, his suit barley even moving. "Facts, something tangible? Anything?" Once he reached the last step, he now stood about a foot away from you. You parted your lips to speak. 

"Ohh please spare me your tree loving sentiment." He spoke, a smirk caused his wrinkles to appear at the corners of his eyes. You sighed and dropped your arms, knowing for sure he had won the argument. "Its time for class!" He said, his voice still gravely yet booming.

All of the students who had listened to you for a moment walked inside, following after the professor.

You spun around to glare at him. How could he not understand? Why were they all ignoring the fact that these animals and the trees were in danger? You growled and pressed your fingers against your temples trying to relax yourself.

"Uhh hey," a low voice called close from in front of you. You looked up to see a short sratured man with his long mangy hair tied back. "We heard you were having trouble with some corporate overlord and we wanted to help." The man said stepping away to reveal his two female friends.

"Really," you asked, your breath already running short. You chuckled. "That would be perfect! Well come on, I have a plan!" You said running over to your car, the three of them following you.

"Huh? Ohh, uhh...what's the plan?" The man asked, his sentance slurring. 

You unlocked your car and stepped in the driver's seat, the trio following you. You leaned your elbow on the seat and turned around to give them a wild smile.

"We're gonna tie ourselves to the trees." You said in a serious tone.

The entire car ride to the Once-ler's factory was filled with cheering from the nice strangers you met at the college campus. You've always seen them around before, you just never talked to them. It amazed you how excited they were to do this, you thought any other person would definently say no, but not them.

Parking your car and turning it off, you quickly leaped out of your seat and slammed the door shut. You went to your trunk grabbing out the rope you had bought earlier that day, just for this plan. You could hear the fascination of the trio with the number of trees their were. You smiled, that feeling never gets old.

Meeting up with them you picked a tree fairly close to were they were chopping down trees, giving a piece of the rope to the male friend, you allowed him to tie you to the tree. After two other friends helped each other, the last did it on their own. You gave a determined look at all of the friends. Now this is active, you thought.

A large smile spread across your face, this was going to work for sure, you could feel it. 

The beeping of the axe machine became louder and louder. Your stomach turned as you could hear the metal chop through the thick wood, a crack and then the worse noise of all; the sound of the trunk snapping completely, the wind whistling through the fur of the truffula tuffs. 

You shut your eyes tight, the reppition of the sounds caused you to tremble. Listening to all of the trees drying was near torture for you. It pained you to think you could only save so many. Well with more people, you would be able to save more trees, hopefully after this act others will see how important it is to keep trees around.

The terrible beeping sounds of the machinery were piercing your ears only a few feet away. Taking in a shaky breath through your nose, you released it out your mouth, opening your eyes to see the many axes in front of you.

Before you could say anything, the Once-ler pushed open the door and began to stomp over to you. Lifting your chin, you gave that man the biggest smile you've ever produced. He stopped just in front of you and lifted his hand to tell the driver of the machine to stop. He did and turned the machine off.

The Once-ler shifted his stance and crossed his arms in a look of annoyance. He gave a grin scrunching his nose up at you.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked opening a very frustrated hand at you. 

"I decided to take a more hands on approach in trying to stop you." You said tossing your head aside to get a hair out of your face. 

The Once-ler reached up, his gloved fingers nearing your cheek. He gently brushed his hand against you, the cool feeling of his gloves made you shiver. He chuckled and tucked the annoying piece of hair behind your ear.

"Look, this is fun but...gosh I really wish I knew your name." The Once-ler said leaning in close to you. You exhaled, vexed with his ridiculous behaviour.

"Like I would tell you." You exclaimed in an already irritated voice.

He only made a small noise of wonder in response. The Once-ler's eyes traveled down your body and stopped at your purse. Reaching uncomfortably close to you, he pulled out your phone and clicked on the main button.

"Janice messaged you back," He said as if it was normal to be opening up a strangers phone. "Oh (Y/N)!" The Once-ler read aloud, a bright smile appearing on his face as he did. "That's really cute!" He said looking back up to you.

You growled and tried looking away from him. You could feel a hot feeling arise at your cheeks, you could only conclude it was a blush from him saying your name.

The Once-ler let out a playful chuckle. He pulled off his large green glasses and tucked them into his coat. Just underneath your chest, you could feel the Once-ler un-tieing your rope. He hummed as he did so, you struggled to back away from him.

Once the ropes were undone you tripped and  
Stumbled forward into his arms, holding onto his lean body. Giving a deep growl, you pulled yourself off of him, falling backwards in front of one of the girls.

"You know what you're doing is wrong and illegal!" You shouted standing up.

"I'd argue that what I'm doing, is neither of those things." He spoke in a more argumentative sounding voice.

"Oh yeah? Would you?" You growled back in a voice of defiance. "And it's Mr. Once-ler right? Is that your first name or last name?"

"It's my only name actually, and I have to say it sounds nice coming from you." He replied, a sly grin on his face.

"Well, it's gonna sound even better when I name you as a defendant." You said walking over to your friends, untying each of them. You looked back, and actually smiled at the business man. "I'll see you in court Once-ler."

**Author's Note:**

> A comment would be nice! Any kind of criticism is accepted, just be nice about it I'm fragile.


End file.
